The scene-setting sound effects employed in this . . . are engaging and authentic to the opera's provenance . . . [the continuo is] provided with perfect virtuosity and dramatic energy . . . [the use of harp and organ in this recording] sharpens the dramatic bite of the performance grippingly. The playing of B'Rock Orchestra's team of first-rate musicians is wonderful. . . Maestro Jacobs's choices of tempo are mostly ideal, and his conducting displays [great attention to the needs of the singers] . . . the boldest of his choices are integrated into a laudable pursuit of musical and dramatic vitality. Zoroastro is one of Händel's best bass rôles, and the expansiveness brought to his music by bass-baritone Konstantin Wolff captures the character's innate dignity . . . Mr. Wolff's technique is equal to the demands of Zoroastro's music . . . Mr. Wolff's handsome tone is unfailingly ingratiating . . . His Zoroastro is a subtle but unflappable presence in the drama . . . mezzo-soprano Kristina Hammarström is quietly one of the best Händel singers in the world today. Her singing of Medoro in this performance is a splendid addition to her gallery of superlative operatic portraits. The dark beauty of her timbre does not detract from the credibility of her portrayal of a male character . . . Whether singing cascades of coloratura or passages of concerted lyricism, Ms. Hammarström maintains uncompromising elegance and regality, but it is the glory of her vocalism that ultimately lingers in the memory among the ghosts of the best Händel performances past and present . . . [Sunhae Im's] singing of Dorinda glistens with focused tone and luxuriant femininity . . . Every note that she sings on this recording is secure of intonation and unerringly placed in a sunny depiction of Dorinda . . . and the total success of her efforts is complemented by the insurmountable stylishness of her singing. The charismatic, imperious Angelica of soprano Sophie Karthäuser is a fantastic foil to Ms. Im's Dorinda . . . The Orlando of countertenor Bejun Mehta is an assertive creation, and the strength and swagger with which he traverses the unusually demanding rôle are magnificent . . . [Orlando's arias] benefit from the technical adroitness of Mr. Mehta's singing, and the singer meets the challenges . . . with consummate artistry and aplomb . . . Mr. Mehta sings with the beauty and breath control of a great exponent of bel canto . . . ebullient and inspiring . . . this recording explores "Orlando" in ways that surprise and astonish . . . they are rooted in a desire to give "Orlando" the kind of sorcery that it deserves. Its virtues silencing whispers about its vices, it is a performance that demands to be heard and refuses to be forgotten.

Record Review /
Joseph Newsome,
Voix des Arts (Blog) / 16. May 2014

Bejun Mehta brings lively characterisation to the mythical hero's subtle duality . . . there is ample compensation in bravura passagework where every detail is in place and every phrase gracefully articulated. His famous aria 'Vaghe pupille' at the close of the Second Act comes over with tenderness and expressive warmth. The remainder of the cast makes a strong showing . . . Sunhae Im brings youthful playfulness to the role of Dorinda. Her athletic technique does justice to 'Amor è qual vento' (Act III) and 'O care parolette' (Act I). Konstantin Wolff's Zoroastro is authoritative and Kristina Hammarström's performance (Medoro) is pleasing; her terzetto with Angelica and Dorinda at the end of Act I is among many delights in a fine production. All is well-paced under René Jacobs's direction with a fine contribution from the B'Rock orchestra.

With this new recording . . . "Orlando" now rivals "Giulio Cesare" as the best-served Handel opera on disc. True to his reputation, Jacobs duly plays up the opera's antic and disruptive aspects. Animated by ever-changing continuo colours, recitatives crackle with dramatic energy . . . Nor is Jacobs squeamish about tweaking Handel's scoring, as with the unscripted recorders [in] Orlando's famous mad scene. Yet while some may protest at all this interventionism, Jacobs is congenitally incapable of dullness . . . The unstable Orlando is perhaps the most dramatically challenging of Handel's castrato roles. Combining histrionic flair, terrific agility in rapid "divisions" and a wide palette of colours, Bejun Mehta rises superbly to its demands. He brings a musing inwardness to his opening cavatina and a finely judged balance of pathos, distraction and unhinged fury to the mad scene, singing the final repeat of the gavotte "Vaghe pupille" as if in a trance . . . Jacobs's boldly theatrical "Orlando" is a predictably vivid addition to the Handel discography.

Record Review /
Richard Wigmore,
Gramophone (London) / 01. July 2014

This "Orlando" is the most dramatic on disc . . . Bejun Mehta's psychotic titular antihero is superb throughout, and I've never heard a more thrilling -- or sinister -- Zoroastro than Konstantin Wolff, while Sophie Karthäuser and Kristina Hammarström blend raptly as the lovers, Angelica and Medoro . . .

Record Review /
Hugh Canning,
The Sunday Times (London) / 06. July 2014

. . . ["Orlando"] offers plenty of opportunities for eerie theatrics, and Jacobs and the B'Rock Orchestra respond with lush instrumental effects and in-your-face miking that amount to a flashlight under the chin. The whole thing might be campy or laughable if the musical values were not so strong, including a gorgeous performance in the title role by countertenor Bejun Mehta, and powerful singing by sopranos Sophie Karthäuser and Sunhae Im, mezzo-soprano Kristina Hammarström and especially bass-baritone Konstantin Wolff as the aforementioned magician . . . the cumulative effect of the performance is transfixing.

. . . René Jacobs addresses every piece of music he interprets with arresting flair and musical imagination, and this buoyant and vivid recording of one of Handel's mature operas is no exception. Conducting with theatrical flair and rhythmic vitality, he carves a strong dramatic arc through a score that in lesser hands can seem merely a trail of superb arias threaded on a string of recitative, bringing hair-raising intensity and uninhibited bravura to the tremendous mad scene which closes Act 2. Here he is fortunate to have Bejun Mehta in the title role -- one of today's finest counter-tenors, singing here at the peak of his powers, in strong contrast to the mellifluous and imposing bass of Konstantin Wolff as the mage Zoroastro . . . Kristina Hammarström is fine in the subsidiary contralto role of Medoro . . . The playing of the whimsically named B'Rock Orchestra Ghent is impeccable throughout and the recording meets Archiv's highest standards.